Rashtriya Raksha University signed an MoU with DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations to set up a Remote Pilot Training Centre for imparting drone flying skills to security force personnel and citizens at its campus on Tuesday.
The initiative identifies, prepares and sustains the statecraft of national strategic and security culture by continually enhancing the education, research and training of cadres from the security, police and civilian sectors.
Under a private partnership model, DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations will partner with Rashtriya Raksha University to set up the Remote Pilot Training Centre (RPTC). In addition to training personnel in the armed forces, paramilitary forces and police force, the program also offers courses for citizens who consider themselves to be in need of such skills.
Several trainers certified by the Director-General Civil Aviation (DGCA) will be instructing participants on how to fly quadcopter drones at the RPTC. The fee structure for various categories of trainees has been kept well below the existing market rates for such training.
The DGCA has laid down a five-day training schedule for imparting basic training in drone flying. However, the training at Rashtriya Raksha University will be conducted on a 5 plus 2 to 4-day basis.
While the first five days are meant for the basic training module, the additional period will be to impart specialised GIS-based training on the use of various sensors onboard a UAV (optical, thermal, infra-red etc) to capture geo-referenced data having real-world use, customised to the requirement of a specific client.
The requirement of defence, police, agriculture, power, irrigation and town planning sectors vary greatly and therefore the add-on module will be customised for each.
Explaining the collaboration, Prateek Shrivastava, CEO of DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations said, “We are a five-year-old drone startup. We offer a perfect blend of GS drone systems and subject meta experts required for special courses and services.”
“We understand that for any industry to grow in the correct direction, a trained talent is required and that is exactly the vision and mission of this collaboration and carter to the forces, R&D and academics,” he said.
Addressing the gathering, Lt Gen Asit Mistry, Director, School of Internal Security, Defence and Strategic Studies (SISDSS) recalled how the idea of utilizing the freshly made helipads in RRU into RPTC occurred.
He said, “While the Prime Minister chose to come by road and grace our convocation, these pads were later used by the former COAS General Naravne once. During that period, the V-C asserted that “why don’t we do something with this facility and that gave us the idea of the possibility of conducting training of pilot zones and that started the courses of finding the right partner.”
He further added “This is going to be a project of public and private partnership. The drone has truly caught the attention of the masses, whether college students pursuing projects on drones to startups coming up with innovative models for the use of drones in warfare. Technology is essentially neutral, it depends on you how you make use of it, whether it is destructive use or marine use and drones have tremendous potential in improving quality of life with efficiency.”
“At RRU we have taken the lead in setting up the RPTC which is a small yet important step. I’m sure this will be a win-win situation for all parties involved,” said Asit Mistry.
Bimal Patel, Vice-Chancellor, in his interaction with the media, said, “RRU shall always look for skill and ability enhancement programs and this particular initiative is rightly aligned with what we have envisioned for the university. I’m certain that other than the personnel in uniform a large part of our staff and students will register themselves as volunteers. this course will also enormously benefit from the elaborate IT laboratories that we have on campus.”
He added, “The enthusiasm we are seeing in drone technology in India is amazing. This energy is an indicator of the huge leap in drones-as-a-service and drone-dependent industries. It also reflects the emergence of a potential employment generating sector in the country.” Dr Patel asserted that Rashtriya Raksha University was committed to such initiatives as part of its basic mission.
The MoU signing event was followed by an elaborate drone display. Dignitaries who attended the event included Major General Mohit Wadhwa, General of Command (GOC), Golden Katar Division, Dr Akshat Mehta, Dean RRU, Major Gen Mandip Singh, Advisor, DA, Dr Anand Tripathi, Pro-VC, RRU, Prof (Dr.) Bimal N. Patel, V-C, RRU, Lt Gen Asit Mistry, Director, SISDSS, RRU, Prateek Shrivastava, CEO DA, Ajay Rajgor, Acting Registrar, RRU. There were a large number of school children from local schools who were also present at the ceremony.
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